Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Munsz———

“I’m kinda surprised you take all of this in stride.” I remarked.

“Eh? Why wouldn’t I?” Scien asked while tilting her head.

“Isn’t all this magic kinda invalidates science? I would’ve imagined those kids having way less respect for it, and it probably causes a lot of headache for you.” Isn’t that kind of what everyone is saying? That magic and science is incompatible and such. Like one can’t exist if the others do, or am I misremembering it.

“That’s not how science works, dipshit.” She quickly refuted me with a scrutinizing look. “Science as a concept is basically a practice of coming up with an explanation of how the world works. And just so you know, those explanations became outdated pretty damn often as new ways of analysing things came to be. As long as magic can be explained, science will stay relevant.”

“...And if it’s not?” I asked, just for the sake of it.

“Then we might be doomed, actually.” She answered nonchalantly. “If those things can’t be comprehended or understood at all, then chances are something wrong is going to happen… Actually, it already did, didn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” Can’t say I like the direction this is going in.

“There were talks about people suddenly catching on fire or exploding with no clear reasons behind them. From all I can gather it seems like this is partially due to the changes to the world, magic and all that.” I… I haven’t really heard about any of that. “From the look on your face, I guess you haven’t.”

“Of course not!” I blurted out, feeling a bit terrified that she recounted those as if they’re no big deal.

“Yeesh. Didn’t realize you were that much of a scaredy cat.” She said with a rather condescending grin. “So my point is that, there seems to be something about magic that if we can’t grasp, we might unexpectedly combust. If we can’t find an explanation for it, we’re screwed.”

“So we have to hope and pray that it is possible?” That seems rather… bleak, to be honest.

“That part is already solved though.” …Huh?

“What do you mean?” If that’s the case then why even bring up such a scary possibility!?

“There are books in the school library explaining things in detail.” …Wait what? Seriously? “I have been checking it out in my free time, it’s quite an interesting read. I kinda thought they might have something like that, considering they plan on giving students time to practice magic.”

…I can’t believe I never thought about it like that. Of course that’s the case. They don’t create a bunch of facilities for people to throw magic around willy-nilly without guides on how to do so correctly. This third party educated Mana on magic, and the two probably organize what they know into the books.

“As it stands, there is plenty of reason to believe there is a way to handle magic with care, so those incidents should be less by… I don’t know, maybe a year.” She gave her rough estimate. “By the way, did you have any problem with the students? I’ve heard a few were attacked by rowdy kids throwing spells around.”

“Can’t say I have.” That sounds… pretty damn dangerous. “Are they fine? I haven’t really heard anything so nothing terrible happened so far, right?”

“The tablet assigned to each of us also came with an automatic defensive spell when it detects that we are in danger, it seems.” Is that right? That’s pretty damn convenient… and probably mandatory, considering that a new kind of weapon exists now that no one can take away. We can’t check if they can or cannot cast a spell. There is no restriction at all aside from… I don’t really know. That’s a massive problem isn’t it?

“Speaking of that, how do they restrict people more dangerous than some students?” Now that I think about it some more, doesn’t this mean a lot of security just flat out doesn’t do jack? Places filled with unsavory people like a prison sounds like a nightmare to deal with… Actually, has there been any news on that?

“From what I know, prison breaks have become commonplace… Actually, from what I remember, the disorder from the Mythical Eclipse caused such a mass panic that guards from these prisons became useless and that’s when prison breaks started happening everywhere.” Damn, talk about frightening. “Now from what I’ve read, they started increasing their surveillance and lowering the budget for prison food.”

“...Weren’t the budget for prison food already low?” Like inhumanely low?

“You’d be surprised by how willing they are to lower it.” She said with clear disdain. “Mind you, starving them means that they won’t be in tip-top shape to try anything funny, and with more guards around it will disincentivize them from causing a prison break.”

“...That’s way too cruel.” I have no idea how those changes even get approved.

“Of course it is. Mind you, all these changes lead to the attack on the prisons coming from the outside instead of in.” How far does this rabbit hole go!? “It’s been a bunch of crazy development people here probably haven’t heard about.”

“Why is that?” I haven’t really heard about anything like that until she relayed it to me just now.

“Haven’t you noticed? Our little town here has very few incidents. Compared to everything on the news and online that was reported, we haven’t had anything like a villain organization, a massive destructive riot, or just a random act of magical violence. Those are almost unheard of around here, despite it happening on almost a weekly basis elsewhere.” She explained in detail. That’s right, there’s very few incidents here, despite all the talk of the world ending, consumed by chaos and such. I thought people were being hyperbolic, but from what she told me, it really isn’t. We’re the exception to that conundrum, for whatever reason.

“...Why is that?” It’s rather strange that this town of all places is a sanctuary in comparison to most of the world?

“I have my speculation, if you wanna hear it.” She offered.

“Might as well.” We’re already talking about it anyway, and we’re plenty free today.

“I think this is due to this town being a claimed territory.” She opened up with a rather vague statement.

“Claimed territory?” I don’t really know what that means. It’s not a term I am familiar with.

“You haven’t read or watched a lot of urban fantasy stories do you…” She said with a tint of disappointment.

“Not really…” I don’t read a lot of books not related to my subject or when I was still in school. I mostly just watch shows and all that, and I don’t go for specifics.

“What I’m talking about is a sort of trope that happened in these types of stories. Supernatural beings will set up a lair in a small town and use it as a homebase that its peers cannot encroach on without inciting a conflict. I didn’t think we’re going to be talking about this, but here we are.” She explained. I see…

“So someone who… Ah.” There’s a few people who fit that description.

“Yeah. From the third party that is heavily involved with Mana, Mana herself, and that Wiina girl. This place has a few people who would’ve claimed this place as their own and curb the influence of others trying to do the same.” She explained further. “I would imagine that the reason this place is more orderly is someone doing the dirty work even the police are incapable of. There have been missing person reports, but no signs of conflict or substantial evidence. It could be related to that.”

That… takes a turn for the rather sinister. What she’s implying is that these people claimed this town as their own, kills any that stirs trouble, and hides it all with no one being aware of it.

“Don’t you think talking about it out loud might get yourself on their list?” I asked, feeling like this is a bit of a risky thing to do.

“Eh? Why would it? I think the fact that no one has been saying much of anything seems to imply they’re not killing willy-nilly. I think I’ll be fine.” She confidently said. “Have some faith here, you really think Mana or that Wiina girl is gonna do anything? Why would I be afraid of Mana after years of working under her, and that Wiina girl has been popping up to stop any incident from escalating. Both are good people, plain and simple.”

“Would killing be something a good person does?” I asked, since she’s the one who insinuated it.

“Oh, are we really starting that now?” She said with wide and unsettling eyes.

“...Maybe not.” It would probably lead us into another rabbit hole, so we should stop at that and move on.

“That’s what I thought.” She said as she stopped showing me that weird expression. “So back on track, I doubt those gals will try anything nefarious. Otherwise we would’ve seen a lot more people gone missing I’d imagine.”

“...Say. Wouldn’t that mean the other areas that are weirdly peaceful also have their own shadow cabal or whatever?” It’s not like this is the only place that maintains a sense of order.

“That should be the case, but we basically have to check all the news and see which places have very little to report on. I’m not doing all that.” And I won’t do that either. Sounds like a massive pain, especially if we had to look through news in other languages. “One thing for sure. I’m damn glad I live here.”

“Same…” I said, before thinking about people I know who aren’t from here. My extended family, old friends, online friends, all those people don’t live here. I haven’t contacted them that often, but many times they convey their grievances about the current situation. I can’t imagine what it’s all like.

“By the way, when will our food arrive?” She said as she looked at the waiters moving around. We’ve been talking for quite a while. We haven’t even noticed that a good deal of time has passed. “Also, am I going crazy or did I hear police sirens?”

“Wait, what? Yeah, I heard that too.” I hear it faintly. Did something happen outside?

“After we just talk about how peaceful our little town is…” She said with a rather awkward smile.

———Wiina———

“So your gang chose to come here and claim territory, wanting the institute for yourself as well?” I asked just so I’m certain I wasn’t mishearing. “There’s being suicidal, and then there’s this.”

“Watch your mouth, bitch!” The gang leader said, having zero idea just how bad this one decision is. It’s just natural selection at this point…

“So what are we doing exactly?” Karra asked, scratching her head and not worrying about the dozens of magic-flinging thugs with guns and sharp objects.

“Well if neither of those two showed up, then I’ll clean things up myself… Oh. Look at that.” I said as I noticed a large shadow over the other side.

*ROAR* *CRASH*

A large shadowy creature resembling a giant eastern dragon crashed into the small army in front of us mouth-first… Oh. And they’re gone. I could still feel their mana signature, so they got whisked away inside that creature to… Rico. That was her M.O.

“...What just happened?” Karra asked, bewildered. While I can perceive and process what happened just fine, it doesn’t really delete the fact that all of that happened in about a second. It was lightning fast. That was both flashy and quick.

“A fate worse than death, it seems.” I said, looking at the rather spotless aftermath. Have to wonder how long she has been doing this for. “They’ll be lucky to get a swift death.”

“...I’m glad I didn’t get caught up in that.” She said with a strained smile.

They’re both rather mindful of bystanders, so I doubt she’ll get caught in the crossfire. Though something tells me there’s no way to really ease anyone’s paranoia, seeing such a monstrous feat.